Panagiotis Spiliopoulos & team, Vontobel

Zurich-based Panagiotis Spiliopoulos leads the Vontobel group of 17 to a second consecutive third-place finish. The analysts cover 150 Swiss stocks and have “great relationships with company managements,” reports one backer. Against the backdrop of Europe’s sovereign-debt crises, the team is urging clients to be cautious, especially with regard to cyclical stocks and banks. Instead, “we are advising investors to focus on companies that we consider safe dividend plays,” Spiliopoulos explains. Stocks currently rated buy include Basel-based agribusiness concern Syngenta, which advanced 2.9 percent last year but should do better in 2012, “considering the record income for farmers in 2011” and “the still-elevated soft-commodity prices,” the team leader says. Also favored: Zurich’s ABB, a global power-transmission giant that the analysts believe is “a world champion in cost control,” whose “margins should remain well protected,” he concludes.